View full sizeDavid Mathews stands in front of his bar, the Alabama Music Box, in this file photo. Mathews testified on Thursday, May 30, 2013, that he has done his best to comply with a court order restricting music performances at the establishment. (Press-Register file photo)

Jeffrey and Patsy Jordan, along with a business partnership controlled by Mobile bankruptcy lawyer Irvin Grodsky, sued the Alabama Music Box in 2011, alleging that that noise from the Dauphin Street establishment amounts to a public nuisance.

Mobile County Circuit Judge Sarah Stewart heard testimony over parts of two days from the plaintiffs, the bar’s owners and the company that owns the building where the club is located. She gave all three parties until July 1 to submit the names of an audio engineer and a soundproofing expert, along with a proposal – with cost estimates – for soundproofing both the Music Box and the Jordans’ home.

If the litigants cannot agree on a soundproofing expert and an audio engineer, the judge said, they are to each submit the names and résumés of their own choices.

Stewart said she would reconvene the nonjury trial on July 12 to discuss the matter further.

Music Box lawyer Buzz Jordan, who is not related to the plaintiffs, said he believes the judge can reach a workable resolution in which the cost of the soundproofing would be split three ways among the plaintiffs, the bar and the property owner.

“We’re very satisfied with her recommendations,” he said.

Rick Courtney, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said it would not be appropriate for him to comment until the judge has made a final ruling.

Stewart this afternoon got a first-hand glimpse of the bitterness surrounding the dispute. Music Box owners David Mathews and Ernie Lindsey testified that they have taken steps to reduce noise and have done their best to comply with Stewart’s previous orders restricting the hours when bands can perform live.

On cross-examination, Courtney asked Mathews if he threw a brick through Grodsky’s window weeks after the lawsuit, a reference to the defendant’s misdemeanor conviction in Mobile Municipal Court. That prompted Buzz Jordan to leap from his chair to insist that police had arrested the wrong man.

“I will prove that in court at some point,” he said.

Stewart said the incident was “completely not relevant and not admissible.”

Mathews testified that he lives next to Studio 5.4, a Dauphin Street bar that aims a speaker at the street and plays music that is “infinitely louder than we could hope to be.”

Asked about dates documented by Jeffrey Jordan in which bands played beyond cutoff times set by the judge, Mathews said they mostly were cases in which employees ignored instructions of the owners. He said there were special circumstances surrounding Dec. 29, in which a band played until 3:40 a.m., past the 2:30 cutoff time. He said the power was out in downtown Mobile that day until 1 a.m.

Mathews said he authorized the band to finish its set because his business, otherwise, would have had to pay a large refund.

Mathews and Lindsey testified that they have made changes to their business model that have cost the establishment money.

“It’s not louder than it needs to be for the enjoyment of our customers,” Lindsey testified, adding that he could not reduce the volume any further “without compromising the quality of the music for our customers.”

Brad Young, who owns the Soul Kitchen downtown and also is a partner in the group that owns the building containing the Music Box, testified that he has asked his tenants to address the Jordans’ concerns.

“We’ve asked them to be good neighbors, to make sure everyone on the street is happy,” he said.

Young testified that he also looked into ways to erect a buffer on the back end of the building but was constrained because it is a fire exit than cannot be closed off. He said the Jordans have complained about previous bars that have been on the block.

There is a bad neighbor that has harmed property values, Young said, and it is not the Music Box. He said the Jordan have made it difficult from him to sell the property.

“I’ve had people specifically withdraw offers because of them,” he said.